Berwick Saga Update: Chapter 9 Gaidens - 12 -1

 

Here are my thoughts on Berwick Saga from the Chapter 9 sidequests to Chapter 12-1.

The Mostly Excellent Map Design

I've been impressed with what I've seen of the map design in Berwick Saga! This game knows how to effectively utilize side objectives, put pressure on the player, and each map is so different that you actively have to take a step back and think about which characters you're going to use. That's pretty incredible! I've been taking notes on the map design, and I think that Berwick Saga will end up beating Thracia 776 for the title of "Best Map Design in the Series". (Yes I know that Berwick Saga isn't an official FE title, but still) The maps in this part of the game that really stand out to me are:

Chapter 10

This map involves numerous hidden enemies with powerful crossbows and bows. The enemy cavaliers at the beginning of the map are really tough too. There are NPCs on the opposite side of the map. One NPC named Vester is trying to talk to the boss. The objective for this map is to make sure that Vester talks to the boss.

 Arrowbane is love, arrowbane is life. For those of you who don't know, Arrowbane is a skill where if your unit gets attacked by an enemy bow user, the RNG resets their accuracy and their highest accuracy is 33 %. It basically lets your characters dodge tank powerful enemy bow users. Given how powerful ballistae and crossbows are in this part of the game, Arrowbane will save your life.

Chapter 11

This is a fairly chill "Defend and then Escape chapter". You're essentially defending the map for 20 turns, but then you have 4 turns for everyone to escape. My biggest criticism of this map is that the escape point is right next to your group, so there isn't as much pressure as there should be. There's a group of powerful wyvern riders present that you should actively try to avoid. Other than that, it's a fairly decent level. 

Chapter 12 

Chapter 12 is awesome! The map pulls the player in multiple directions and even has a neat boss at the end. The main objective is to get that Vester guy from Chapter 10 to seize the fort. In order to do that, you have to get this paladin named Alvina over to a village to talk to a bishop, then you have to get her to the opposite side of the map in order to get her to talk to Vester. After that, you have to storm the castle.

Did I mention that the boss has a berserk orb? That's scary. In Berserk Saga, enemies with status orbs are rare, but when they show up they will make life miserable for you. Status orbs pretty much always hit their target, and the resources available to cure them are limited. So you have to make good use of them while pressing forward. Meanwhile, armored enemies will appear from the gate to slow your advance. 

Bytheway, you have 24 turns to complete all of this so no turtling for you. 24 turns may sound lenient, but considering the fact that you have to traverse all over the map that time can go by quickly. Playing slowly on this map is a bad idea. Oh, and there's an island in the middle of the map where three ballistae will fire on you. Ballistae in this game are scary! They're accurate, so you most likely will get hit, and they can 2 shot most of your group. The extra fragile characters get killed in one hit. I don't think ballistae have ever been this powerful in Fire Emblem before. All-in-all, this map is excellently designed!

Chapter 12-1

^ Remember when I posted this picture? 12-1 is the chapter where this came into place. Thankfully, there's a map event that happens that results in silencing this dude. When that happens, you don't have to worry about the boss using that weapon on you. Instead you just have to worry about him one hit KO'ing all of your guys with Hellfire. Fortunately, there is a strategy on how to deal with that that involves a thief called Sedy. Sedy can steal Hellfire before the boss gets silenced. When that happens, the boss becomes incapable of doing anything. This is easier said than done. Sedy has to be one space away from the boss in order to accomplish this, and I should inform you that the boss is surrounded by other dark mages that all have status orbs. Sleep and Berserk can make your life miserable.

The main objective for this map is to rescue all the NPCs that are being captured by enemy dark mages. These NPCs are spread all over the map, which once again pulls the player in different directions. Another nifty feature of this map is that it's a fog of war map. Wait, don't you hate fog of war? Normally yes, but in Berwick Saga enemies don't attack you in fog of war unless they see you. Enemies and players are put on the same playing field in this game. So fog of war ends up being tolerable. It's super helpful in this map because that enemy boss and his minions can't use status staves on you unless you're super close. So you're basically hiding under the cover of night in order to rescue damsels in distress. It's a pretty cool scenario.

For some reason, this doesn't apply to the dark mage with the infinite range ballistic siege tome. That douchebag can see you from anywhere on the map. That being said, this is definitely my favorite fog of war map in a Fire Emblem(ish) title. It's challenging, but fun.

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I've now added two extra members to my team: Percival and Owen. 

Percival is a mage that has access to that Arrowbane skill that I mentioned earlier. He also is your main Dire Thunder user too. He also has Adept, which is helpful for double attacking. A major reason why I wanted him on my team is that armored enemies in this game have such ridiculously high defense that one of the best strategies to beating them is with magic. This is where Percival comes in handy since he's one of the few magic users in this game.

The other character that I added on is Owen. Owen is a bishop with exclusive access to Pacify, an orb that cures the Berserk status. He can pretty much use any healing orb that you want him to, which is helpful. He also has an Escape orb that causes allies to permanently leave a map for good. That may not sound all that useful, but there are a lot of escape maps in this game, so the escape orb comes in clutch when you want certain characters to escape. Owen can also cause himself to permanently leave a map, which makes him a must have in escape maps.

There is a drawback to using this guy: If Owen hasn't left a map by Turn 20, he becomes a bad guy. Strange mechanic for a character, but thankfully after Chapter 12-1 that will no longer be the case. He's worth using because of how helpful he can be in escape maps, but you do need to be at least a little bit careful with him. Overall, I'd say that he's definitely worth using so long as you're aware about his little drawback.